KENOSHA, Wis. — Antonio “Tony” I. Garcia, 69, of Pleasant Prairie, a former Kenosha Unified School District Board member and former KUSD bilingual community liaison, will walk away without a criminal conviction after allegations that he engaged in grooming-like behavior involving three female students, including allegedly isolating a sophomore behind a closed office door, telling her she was beautiful, saying he would probably fall in love with her if he were her age, encouraging her to leave her boyfriend, giving her his personal phone number and telling her, “I care for you, I love you,” before changing his words. Another student accused Garcia of leaning close enough to smell her, telling her she “smelled good” and rubbing her shoulder. KUSD’s internal investigation also documented allegations involving a third female student and concluded Garcia had violated multiple district policies governing staff-student boundaries.

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Despite those allegations, the lone criminal charge filed against Garcia, misdemeanor disorderly conduct, has now been dismissed through an unusual written plea arrangement between Kenosha County Assistant District Attorney Vincent Kurta and Circuit Court Judge Jodi L. Meier.

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Garcia instead agreed to a noncriminal county ordinance disorderly conduct violation and a $263.50 forfeiture. The written plea agreement specifically calls for dismissal of criminal case 2026CM000915. Kurta signed the agreement Sept. 11. It was then accepted through court filings rather than Garcia appearing before Meier for the type of open-court plea and sentencing hearing ordinarily seen in criminal cases.

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Kurta remains an assistant district attorney in the Kenosha County District Attorney’s Office, according to the county’s current staff directory, while Meier presides over Branch 7 of Kenosha County Circuit Court.

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Case Resolved On Paper, Not In Open Court
The manner in which Garcia’s criminal prosecution disappeared is almost as notable as the result.

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Rather than holding a plea hearing in open court, where a prosecutor would place the agreement on the record, Garcia would personally enter his plea and the judge could question him before accepting it, the parties handled the disposition through paperwork.

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Wisconsin’s court system maintains a formal plea questionnaire and waiver-of-rights process for defendants entering pleas, but Garcia’s case was resolved without the conventional public courtroom proceeding accompanying most criminal plea agreements.

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Kenosha County Eye editor Kevin Mathewson has spent years regularly observing proceedings in Kenosha County Circuit Court and recalls seeing a criminal prosecution disposed of in this fashion only once or twice.

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The result is significant: the criminal case is dismissed, Garcia receives no misdemeanor conviction and instead pays $263.50 for an ordinance violation.

KUSD Investigation Found Serious Boundary Violations
Garcia started working as KUSD’s bilingual community and student support liaison on Oct. 21, 2024. According to the criminal complaint, within his first week supervisors explicitly told him he could not give students his personal telephone number and that he was required to contact parents before contacting students directly.

Investigators later alleged Garcia began separating one sophomore from others during what were supposed to be academic check-ins. School surveillance showed Garcia escorting the girl into his private office at approximately 10:05 a.m. Nov. 11, closing the door and remaining alone with her until approximately 10:43 a.m.

The student said Garcia shifted the conversation from academics to her appearance, called her a “beautiful girl” and gave her his personal cell number on a piece of paper so she could contact him outside school.

Three days later, according to the complaint, the girl was again alone with Garcia behind his closed office door. She alleged Garcia told her she was smart and beautiful, said he understood why her boyfriend loved her and told her that if he were her age he would probably fall in love with her too.

Garcia allegedly encouraged her to break up with her boyfriend, telling her the boy was dragging her down. The girl said Garcia then told her, “I care for you, I love you,” before changing the statement to “I have love for you.”

The student told investigators she felt extremely uncomfortable, nervous and unsafe. She immediately contacted her boyfriend after leaving Garcia’s office and began crying.

A second female student reported that Garcia leaned close to her, smelled her and told her she smelled good before rubbing her shoulder. Surveillance footage from another encounter showed Garcia touching the student’s arm and appearing to place his hand near or on her shoulder.

KUSD’s broader personnel investigation involved allegations concerning three female students. District records described additional inappropriate comments, touching and money being given to students.

KUSD placed Garcia on administrative leave Nov. 14, 2024, and ultimately terminated him.

Garcia Made Admissions To Police
When another student confronted Garcia over his behavior and secretly recorded the conversation, Garcia acknowledged he may have crossed a line verbally.

“I apologized maybe I said something I’m not supposed to,” Garcia said, according to the complaint.

He later said he was going to have to “watch my words what I say next time.”

During a Dec. 3, 2024 interview with Kenosha Police Detective Sergio Martini, Garcia admitted telling the sophomore she was beautiful and acknowledged giving her and her boyfriend his personal phone number despite KUSD’s instructions.

Garcia also admitted telling the girl he loved her, although he told police he meant that he loved her “as if she was his daughter.” He further acknowledged telling another female student that she smelled good. Garcia denied having romantic intentions.

Despite the breadth of the allegations, prosecutors waited approximately 20 months before charging Garcia in July with only one count of misdemeanor disorderly conduct.

Now even that charge is gone.

Victim-Witness Document Contains Students’ Names And Birth Dates
Another troubling issue surfaced in the court file.

A victim-witness identification key filed in Garcia’s case contains the full names and complete dates of birth of student witnesses associated with the investigation. Kenosha County Eye will not publish those identifying details.

The copy reviewed by KCE contains the sensitive information in plain text. It also carries a notation stating that the identification document had been filed under a temporary seal and was not to be disseminated to people who were not listed on the sealing motion and order.

The handling of that document raises obvious privacy concerns because the underlying case involves students, including minors.

The material provided to KCE does not establish on its face why the identifying information was handled as it was or establish a motive for any sealing decision. What it does establish is that the document itself contains the students’ full identities and dates of birth.

Another Kurta Deal Draws Scrutiny
Garcia’s resolution comes amid recent criticism of several plea and dismissal decisions involving Kurta.

Earlier this month, Kurta agreed to reduce six felony charges against former Prairie Lane Elementary PTO President Jan Herman to three misdemeanor theft counts after restitution was paid. Kurta and the defense jointly recommended probation with jail imposed but stayed.

Meier rejected that recommendation.

“You got your big break in all these felony offenses getting amended down to misdemeanors,” Meier told Herman before sentencing her to the maximum nine months on each misdemeanor, consecutive, for a total of 27 months in jail.

The Prairie Lane PTO itself publicly criticized the charging reduction, saying the change from six felonies to three misdemeanors felt inadequate compared with the damage done to students and families.

Members of the public made similar complaints. One KCE commenter called the reduction from six felonies to three misdemeanors “crazy,” while another argued Herman had already received substantial leniency merely by avoiding felony convictions.

Kurta was also the prosecutor who appeared when Amir Farhan’s prosecution was resolved this summer. Farhan originally faced multiple felonies after police accused him of attacking three teenage girls, striking them with liquor bottles and pointing what appeared to be a handgun at them.

Under the eventual resolution, the felony bail-jumping count was dismissed and read in, no felony child-abuse conviction resulted, and Farhan pleaded to misdemeanors. Meier imposed stayed jail sentences and probation, with only 60 days in the county jail as a condition of probation.

Kurta also previously filed a motion seeking dismissal of felony narcotics and second-offense OWI charges against another defendant, although that case involved separate credibility problems concerning the investigating deputy and therefore presented materially different evidentiary issues.

Kurta Has Sought Other Positions
Kurta has also sought positions outside his current role at the District Attorney’s Office, including judicial and court commissioner posts, and his LinkedIn profile has displayed the “Open to Work” designation.

Those circumstances have prompted speculation among some courthouse observers about Kurta’s future with the District Attorney’s Office, although Kurta has not publicly stated that he intends to leave.

For now, the county continues to list him as an assistant district attorney.

No Active Wisconsin Teaching License
Garcia also does not currently hold an active Wisconsin educator license.

Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction records current as of Sept. 16 show Garcia’s three-year short-term substitute teaching license expired in 2007 and an emergency teaching permit expired in 2010. No pending renewal or extension is shown.

Nearly two years after KUSD removed Garcia from a school over allegations involving multiple female students, the criminal justice system’s final disposition is a $263.50 ordinance forfeiture and dismissal of the only criminal charge prosecutors ever filed against him.